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Monday, 08 March 2010 15:09 |
Dear St. Paul's parents and residents,
Due to the email (along with previous correspondences) I sent to the TDSB below, I received the attached information for your review. Please let me know if you are able to understand each of the line items. While I appreciate the fact that Board staff have now agreed to share details of our operating budget with us, I believe public budgets should be clear, transparent, and understandable to the average taxpayer. I respectfully submit that the TDSB should strive to ensure that its budget is a very clear plan and receipt for the public purse, and for the service to our students and communities we are entrusted to provide.
Reference: Ontario's Education Act: (4) <http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/french/elaws_statutes_90e02_f.htm#s207s4> Any person may, at all reasonable hours, at the head office of the board inspect the minute book, the audited annual financial report and the current accounts of a board, and, upon the written request of any person and upon the payment to the board at the rate of 25 cents for every 100 words or at such lower rate as the board may fix, the secretary shall furnish copies of them or extracts therefrom certified under the secretary’s hand. R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2, s. 207 (4).
Subject: Freedom of Information Request-TDSB budget discretionary items
Dear Mr. Tomczak,
Please share with me any documents that will explain to me how each discretionary line item from the 2009-2010 TDSB departmental budgets (no matter if they are listed as “discretionary”, “other” or “textbooks and instructional supplies” or another term used to describe “discretionary”). I would like this information before I vote on any further recommendations for the 2010-2011 budget.
In fact, I made this request over a month ago from Mr. Higgins and have received repeated assurances that he would provide me with what I asked for. Thus far, despite commitments that I would have access to this information by dates now past, I have received none of the information I’ve requested.
On Wednesday, March 10, 2010, my colleagues and I will be asked to vote on budget-related items without the information I asked for to support making an informed decision. I was hoping to provide an analysis of this information to the board meeting.
As you know, any member of the public has a right to access the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) budget. Moreover, as an elected trustee, an integral part of the work I do on behalf of the public is to understand how their tax dollars are being spent, contribute to determining and balancing priorities and to vote on the TDSB’s budget.
There are currently millions of dollars assigned to various departmental discretionary budgets. I want clearer explanations for how they are being spent.
Although I’ve been asked to do so, I wish it were not necessary for me to qualify why I am making this request. The TDSB is facing a large deficit budget and there is a dearth of funding for several priority needs in our city’s schools.
Sincerely,
Josh Matlow
Trustee for St. Paul’s
Toronto District School Board
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